Barbara Cargill captured the the Republican Primary Tuesday and will face Democratic challenger Dexter Smith, of Friendswood, in November for the State Board of Education District 8 seat.

Cargill, of The Woodlands, who was appointed SBOE chair by Gov. Rick Perry, said one of the best aspects of winning was having the support of her home county, Montgomery County.

“They’re the people I see at the grocery store, and my children went to school with their children,” she said. “It’s just so awesome when your home county supports you.”

With the recent redistricting of District 8, Cargill and her opponents had to expand their campaign network and reach out to Waller, Brazos and part of Harris counties.

“I’m so happy that the new constituents feel they can entrust their children to me,” she said. “The benefit of a long race is that you can meet so many people; and with the redistricting, I got to meet so many great people. I’m very thankful, very thankful.”

She went on to say that she knew Smith and Linda Ellis, R-The Woodlands, both work in the education field and she appreciates their work.

Ellis did not return phone calls before press time.

“I do know Dexter and Linda have invested a lot in children ... it’s a very honorable profession,” Cargill added.

According to Montgomery County election results, Cargill had 27,772 votes, while Ellis stood at 10,708. With about half of the district’s precincts counted, Cargill had a commanding lead with 53,276 votes (68.8 percent) to Ellis’ 24,148 (31.2 percent).

Smith said he wasn’t counting his ducks before they were all in a row, however, he was happy.

“It feels pretty good right now,” Smith said.

He went on to say he felt redistricting had a great impact on his campaign.

“It took me out of my area. I had to do a lot to traveling to different counties, but it was well worth it,” Smith said.

He said meeting new people was a great part of running, however, meeting new people who agreed with his mind set and opinions on the SBOE was even better.

“If anybody is paying attention, they can see we’re not going in the right direction,” Smith said of the SBOE and the Texas Education Association.

Texas State Senate Distict 4

District 4 State Senator Tommy Williams was grateful and humbled by the support he saw as he took the majority of votes over challenger Michael Galloway during the Republican Primary.

“I feel very good and I’m grateful for the outpouring of support by my voters here in Montgomery County,” Williams said. “We have worked hard to represent all of Southeast Texas, and I’m grateful for that support.”

With all 86 precincts in Montgomery County reporting, Williams topped Galloway 19,298 to 13,782 locally. With 147 or 234 precincts counted in the district, Williams had 30,729 votes (62.14 percent) to Galloway’s 18,718 (37.85 percent).

Williams said while he has had the most organized opposition since he ran two years ago, he is happy with results.

“Our numbers are holding right where they were four years ago,” he said. “I feel good about that.”

Galloway said he was surprised by the numbers.

“I expected to do better than in early voting than on election day,” he said. “The numbers don’t make sense.”

Galloway pulled in 6,654 votes during early voting and 7,128 during the election Tuesday.

While Galloway held the seat from 1995 to 1999, he lost the bid in 2002 and 2008. He said he wasn’t sure if another bid was in the future.

“It’s hard to say,” he said. “I didn’t plan on running the last two times. The last two times I ran was because no one was willing to step up.”

During his tenure, Williams has worked to provide funding for strengthening border efforts throughout his term and has been acknowledged as a “border champion” by the state’s Border Protection Unit.

In addition to better equipping border patrol, Williams helped pass legislation changing the process for receiving a Texas driver’s license. In the past, applicants were not required to show proof of citizenship. After the last session, individuals now must do so; and for individuals who are permitted a limited stay in the country, their license expires at the same date of their term of stay.